15.64 miles @ 7:41 pace, 78° , 93% humidity Arrived at Starkey park just before 6:00. I had no idea who I was going to run with or perhaps would just run by myself as several of the people I usually start out with were out of town today. Jenny (not my wife), her friend Laura, and one of her friends were leaving and invited me along. We ran out together to the 4 mile water stop averaging miles between 8:30 and 9:00. At about 2 miles there was some heavy smoke from a recent controlled burn and we had no idea how long it would last, fortunately it cleared once we got past the high tension power lines. The rest of the run was pretty uneventful for a while. After a brief stop to stretch at 4 miles, I said good bye to the ladies and went out ahead and picked up the pace. Went out just past 7.5 miles and then turned around. The sun was just starting to rise up enough to clear the tops of the tall pine trees along the Suncoast highway, I was glad I was on my way back. I caught back up to Jenny and company, then I saw Mike and Eric and Eric's friend Dan heading out to turn around at 6.5 miles. So I slowed down a bit then turned around and went slow for a bit until the had turned around and made it back to me. That's when the fun began. Both Mike and Eric are fast, and Dan is even a bit faster than Eric. The remaining miles were mostly between 6:50 and 7:10. I struggled a little bit to hang on and did a pretty good job, although if it was just me I probably would have gone a little bit slower. Sometimes a little suffering trying to keep up with faster people is a good exercise. With the extra back and forth, I ended up with just a little more than the planned 15 miles. Felt really good at the end. Spent some time at social hour and met some newer members that just joined the group. Talked to one lady who is going to run Dallas White Rock marathon this December for her first marathon, which is the one which Jenny (my wife) will run. This newest member (I think Casey) is a very fast 10Ker (something about Olympic trials qualifier I thought I heard). Some combination of or perhaps all of Dan, Mike, and Eric might show up at six next week for 14 miles or so. I have a tough time starting out fast like Mike and Eric seem to do, but fortunately Dan says he likes to start out slower too for the first few miles. Here is a controlled burn picture just for drama: 
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